9th Circuit tosses whistleblower lawsuit against biotech firm

A divided federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former sales manager at an Oregon medical device company, ruling that his claims were already part of another lawsuit in which the government was a party.

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 ruling that the False Claims Act lawsuit Max Bennett brought against Biotronik Inc was blocked by the “government-action bar,” even though the government was no longer an active participant in the other FCA lawsuit.

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